Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Look to Ohio, Illinois

Unlike Illinois, Ohio has a Republican governor, John Kasich, and a
reformist Republican legislature. Unlike Illinois, Ohio's governor ruled
out tax hikes as a way to address his state's budget hole ($8 billion).
And unlike Illinois, whose Medicaid cuts mostly do nothing to slow the
growth of spending, Ohio's Medicaid program expects to see its annual
rate of increase cut in half.
How did Buckeye Republicans do it? It turns out that when you can't
rely on dubious revenue projections, you get more serious about
spending. When Mr. Kasich's people looked at Medicaid, they found that
4% of Ohio's Medicaid cases accounted for 51% of the spending. That
allowed them to address costs while improving care—e.g., coordinating
care for the most expensive, chronic cases instead of just having them
show up in emergency rooms.
In sharp contrast, the cigarette tax in Illinois raises many more
questions than it answers. Take the projected $350 million in revenue,
which is designed to help close a $2.7 billion Medicaid gap.
Illinois is unlikely to meet that target, if only because it is
bordered by several states that will now have much lower tobacco taxes.

About Me

The middle of America. As for me, moderate in everything but politics. As Tom Roeser said, she went to Harvard and turned right. I come from The Chicago School, not the Chicago Way. Tweet street @backyardconserv